Support WXXI

Pledge Now!

Travels with Mike: In Search of America 50 Years After Steinbeck

(Rochester, New York) – Travels with Mike: In Search of America 50 Years After Steinbeck﻿, airing Sunday, July 28, 2013 at 9 p.m. on AM 1370/FM-HD 91.5-2, is a one-hour special that revists writer John Steinbeck's iconic book, Travels with Charley -- published 50 years ago, in 1962 -- and journeying into today's America through the eyes of contemporary artists. Episodes in Sag Harbor, N.Y.; New Orleans; North Dakota; Spokane, Wash.; Humboldt County, Cal., and Monterey, Cal. This special program is hosted by Al Letson, host of the NPR/PRX show, State of the Re:Union.﻿

John Steinbeck climbed into a pickup-camper that he’d named Rocinante, after Don Quixote’s horse, and started driving. He left his home on Long Island with a set of questions that could, he wrote, be lumped into a single one: “What are Americans like today?” With his poodle Charley by his side, the novelist traveled 10,000 miles in three months, making a loop from one coast to the other and back again. His account of the journey, "Travels with Charley In Search of America", was published in 1962, the same year Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Perhaps even more than Steinbeck could grasp at the time, the United States was at a turning point. He drove along an historical seam between one era and another, one kind of country and another. Half a century later, it seems fair to say that America finds itself at another crossroads.Travels with Mike retraces Steinbeck’s steps, not with a poodle but with a stereo microphone (i.e., Mike). Producer John Biewen went to key locations on Steinbeck’s itinerary and in each place collaborated with an artist who’s deeply grounded in that place. Travels with Mike comprises a series of conversations, across time, between a great American writer of the last century and a diverse array of contemporary artists — conversations about issues, place, and the spirit of the country.

WXXI is the essential, life-long educational media resource for the Greater Rochester area. WXXI puts the community first with programming that stimulates and expands thought, inspires the spirit, opens cultural horizons and promotes understanding of diverse community issues. Log on to wxxi.org for more information about our services and programs.﻿